I just bought a used 9’ Tudor Papa Joe off of a guy for $400. He said it’s 4 years old. Shaped by Bill Shrosbee.
Anyone have any thoughts on this board and shape? I spoke to Bill, he said the boards were only shaped by hand for one year around '01 then were put on a machine. The glass is heavy on it and looks like a gret job. The board is reminiscent of an old school shape and glass job.
One thing I am worried about with the glass is what looks to be some sort of "stress fractures on the underside. There is about 1 foot wide set of hairline stress cracks in the glass. It seems to be still completely water tight and the guy I bought it from said this was something that happens from the board being in salt water. Ive never seen this before, but then again i have never had a board with this type of heavier glass on it. Other than that and few small dings and scrapes, and one nickel size professionally repaired ding the board is in great shape.
general thoughts and feedback on the board are appreciated. I am thinking i got a great deal.
This is most likely nothing to worry about, as boards have a lifespan… but hairline cracks across the stringer, perpendicular to the rails and stringer, are not from salt water. If so, all boards should have them, right? They indicate the board was overflexed at some point. Keep an eye on it. Even though they look water tight, the may not be. I’ve seen many clear boards with these cracks get brown along the crack lines. It’s safe to say if it’s cracked, it’s compromised, at least to some degree. This could be an area where the board may buckle in the future.
The glassing gurus may know better, but I believe another reason why this may happen has to do with the thickness or number of hotcoats/gloss coats. Too thick of a gloss or hotcoat can crack more easily than a thin sanding coat and good gloss job.
I saw that board on Craigslist. I concure that it sounds like stress cracks. I would think that with each flex while riding the thing water could seep into the board. I just did a repair on my Stewart that was flexed pretty good with the same hairline cracks.
how did you go about repairing it? I have only repaired minor dings myself, never something like this.
I’ve been repairing boards a hobby/side-business for a couple of years, but didn’t have any experience with these stress cracks. After searching around on the web (before discovering swaylocks) I found some suggesting removing the resin above the crack down to the cloth, then refilling. There were alot of cracks some bunched together and some not, and it was alot of work. Not sure I would do it that way again. I used a dremel with a course sanding wheel. I didn’t quite go to the cloth though (because I had trouble controlling the depth) and ended up with the cracks still visible but sealed. In hinds sight, I probably should have used the depth guide that came with the dremel.
May be the gloss was kicked too hot and made it brittle
you can get the bottom reglossed and polished
80 to 100 bucks (guessing)